Everytime
by Deep Wonderment
Summary: A story set after Hogwarts to after the final battle which is filled with moments with Hermione and a certain Hufflepuff. AU. Cedric is alive. Character deaths. HBP spoliers. Songfic. Oneshot


**Title:** Everytime  
**Author:** hiphopmarmalade  
**Rating:** G (K)   
**Pairing/Character:** Cedric Diggory/Hermione Granger  
**Summary:** A story set after Hogwarts to after the final battle which is filled with moments with Hermione and a certain Hufflepuff.  
**Warnings:** Extremely AU. Cedric is alive. HBP happened so spoilers for that. I really wanted play with the characters. I felt that Hermione needed to have finished Hogwarts for this fic. I don't know the method to my madness. Just try it. Please?  
**Word Count:** 2,447  
**Notes:** I don't own Harry Potter or the song "_Everytime_" by Simple Plan. This was written for LJ community 7musicalmuses.

* * *

So much had happened since Hermione had finished her schooling at Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ron, Harry and herself, as well as Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood were made members of the Order of the Phoenix. She moved out of her parent's home and was sharing a house rent free at Harry's insistence with the 5 of them, the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, Katie Bell and most surprising of all Cedric Diggory. 

Cedric hadn't died after in the graveyard in her fourth year. He had helped save Harry's life as a matter of fact. When the ministry rejected what he and Harry had seen that night Cedric had sought refuge with the trio and those who believed Dumbledore. He had become friends with them and was like the older brother Hermione had never had. He was always looking out for everyone and making sure they were okay. Then halfway through her 6th year he disappeared.

Once he appeared at the Order Meeting where she was inducted it only seemed natural that Harry extended the invitation to live with everyone to him. Later when it was announced that the Death Eaters had killed his parents for the work Cedric was doing with the Order it seemed not only natural, but the right thing to do, and quite necessary.

_It was three AM when you woke me up  
And we jumped in the car and drove as far as we could go  
Just to get away  
We talked about our lives  
Until the sun came up  
And now I'm thinking about  
How I wish I could go back  
Just for one more day  
One more day with you  
_

It was about a month since they had moved in and started some intense training that the Oliver, Katie, Cedric and occasionally, Lee were running for the recent graduates. If Lee was not at a training session it meant that he was with the twins scheming up some product that could be sold in the chain of joke stores they ran but also was useful to the Order. Sometimes after the training they would ask Hermione's advice and tonight was one of those nights. They kept her up until quarter till 3 that morning. Hermione quietly went to the kitchen to get herself some of Mr. Weasley's sleeping tea so she could just go right to sleep. She was careful not to wake Cedric who, slept on the couch because he still did not have a proper bed and refused to let everyone pitch in and buy him one. As she headed up to the room she shared with Luna and Katie she looked at the sleeping boy on the couch.

"No! NO! Let them go! I'm the one you want. Take me instead. No." Cedric shouted in his sleep his voice getting softer with each syllable. He was tossing and turning.

Hermione placed her tea on a table and shook him gently. "Cedric, you are having a bad dream. Wake up. It's okay.

Cedric's eyes opened and he sat up as the clock chimed three. "I need to get out of here. I need a break." He stood up and started to head for the door.

Afraid for his safety because it was the middle of the night, they were in the midst of a war, and he was raving like a lunatic Hermione piped up with "Would you like some company?"

"That might be smart." Cedric replied.

It wasn't a yes and it wasn't a no but Hermione knew she was meant to follow.

The grabbed a couple of jumpers, their wands and some potions incase they were attacked. Hermione left a note so people wouldn't worry if they were looking for them and then went outside.

"Let's take the car." Cedric looked at her. He owned a muggle car that he told every helped him get around when he was pretending to be a muggle when he disappeared,

Hermione nodded and they got in and just drove around talking about everything and anything. Both of them were grateful for the opportunity because deep down in their hearts they felt like they had no one to confide in. The twins and Lee had each other. Oliver and Katie were engaged and there was their solution. Neville and Harry would confide in each other. The most hurtful of all probably was Luna and Ron. Hermione had been dating Ron until 6 months ago when they broke up. They were amicable and got along but they could never be as close as they were before. Ron was dating Luna and Hermione was happy for them. She just wanted someone to talk to. Noticing the Tension Harry started to confide in Neville so he didn't end up in the middle.

Hermione was glad to just get everything off her chest. She got rid of all the pains and the hurts she was feeling, all her fears. Cedric listened gave advice if she needed it and the same went for him. She found out more about his time away than anyone would know. She was the one who held him as he started to grieve for his parents for the first time. They needed this. Neither of them knew what this was, but they needed it.

_Everytime I see your face  
Everytime you look my way  
It's like it all falls into place  
And everything feels right  
Ever since you walked away  
You left my life in disarray  
All I want is one more day  
All I need is one more day with you_

Hermione needed to be around Cedric. It didn't matter how afraid of him she was. She needed him around in order to remember that she wasn't alone. The brotherly feelings she once held for him were giving way to a new and scary feeling. She was certain she was in love with him. Whenever he would walk into a room or look her way her heart would pitter patter and everything would be fine. If she was unsure of something she was doing during a battle she could look his way and when their eyes met his would just be filled with so much encouragement that her fears would disappear. He was the one who saw the unsure vulnerable side of her. Everyone else didn't know it was there. She was good at hiding it. She also became good at hiding how much she really did love him. She was too afraid of his rejection. She knew it would tear her into pieces.

Cedric needed Hermione just as much she needed him. She was there if he needed to cry because he missed his mum, or when the pain in his arm from the curse he was hit with in the graveyard became too much. She was there when he needed to forget with a smile and some crazy idea of something to do. When Cho dumped him for some rich muggle she had met at a club she was the one who went bar hopping with him. She went to make sure he didn't drink himself to death. After that night they both began to open up to each other more and he began to fall for her. She had made it clear that she thought of him as an older brother so he respected that and left his feelings unsaid.

_  
When the car broke down  
We just kept walking along  
Till we hit this town  
There was nothing there at all  
But that was all okay  
We spent all our money on stupid things  
But if I looked back now, I'd probably give it all away  
Just for one more day  
One more day with you  
_

A few days before their world became undone they went to a small local town. Hermione had been given some muggle money from her parents for her birthday and decided that she was going to split it with Cedric. They had to go to this street fair and buy the most outrageous things they could find for the other person. It was her way of unwinding on her 19th birthday with the threat of the last battle looming over their heads. It was the only way she wished to spend the day- with Cedric.

"Granger- no buying me a bed. I like the couch." Cedric said teasingly as they walked into the street fair.

Hermione giggled. "I'd buy you a lumpier couch if anything to sleep on. A bed is too normal for today."

Cedric stopped at a display of hats. "Here try this on." He grinned mischievously as he handed her a large purple hat with lime green feathers and sparkly roses on it.

"That's ghastly! It reminds me of something Neville's Gran would wear." She giggled tried it on and handed Cedric her camera. Hermione made an outrageous pose and Cedric took a picture of her. When she handed him a yellow and black furry zebra print hat he posed for a picture.

They decided against the hats and the day went on like that. Both of them picking out funny things to try on and taking weird pictures. Then they decided to actually buy something normal for the other person and split up.

Cedric still needed to get Hermione her present for her birthday. He planned an idea for that he went to buy that first. He picked out an antique silver locket and then pulled out the pictures he brought with him and made them fit. Then he placed the note confessing his love for her in it. He then set off to spend his share of her money for her. He walked past a stall of books and then he saw it. It was a book of muggle fairy tales that looked like a book that would be found in the time they were set in. Cedric knew she loved those stories. It was perfect. He slid the locket at the start of Cinderella, her favorite story and went to the place he was to meet her.

Cedric burst out laughing as he saw Hermione with a chocolate lab puppy excitedly licking her face. He always had he could have a dog. Now he had one.

"His name is Aladdin. His owner needed to sell him because he had too many siblings. You like?" Hermione beamed at the smile on his face.

He handed the new book to her and she squealed as she threw her arms around him. "How did you know I lost my book of fairytales in the move? This is amazing!"

Satisfied with the day they had the two headed home.

Cedric, Neville, Fred and George were outside playing with Aladdin and Hermione had settled into an armchair in her after opening gifts from everyone else. Opening to the book to her favorite story Hermione found the locket. Opening it she read the letter and smiled. She never knew he felt the same way. Before she could sit down and read Cinderella the end came when Luna ran into the room and told her it was time.

Hermione grabbed what she needed for the battle, threw the locket around her neck, left the book open on the chair and headed off the final battle. Unfortunately, she was unaware that it would be her last battle.

_Now I'm sitting here, like we used to do  
I think about my life and how now there's nothing I won't do  
Just for one more day  
One more day with you  
_

The first thing Cedric did after the battle was to move her chair into the living room. He would sit in that chair looking at the pictures from the street fair and reading the book he bought her for hours with Aladdin at his feet.

He remembered the battle clearly. Before the battle He had agreed with Hermione to stick together and help each other out. Everyone in the Order was instructed to this. They were fighting the Malfoys. They had just destroyed Nagini, the last horocrux of Voldemort. The Malfoy's were guarding it. Draco then hit Hermione with a nasty curse that cut her up and she fell to the ground losing blood. Filled with rage Cedric finished off Draco and his father.

He knelt down placing her head in his lap fumbling for their healing potions "You'll be okay, Hermione. I promise." Cedric choked though his tears.

"Ced, no," Hermione pushed his hands away from the potions and looked up at him. "Go tell Harry, Neville and Ron we succeeded. It's too late for me. Thanks for getting them back. I love you too." Hermione went limp in his arms her head lolling back. Cedric smiled through his tears as he saw the locket around her neck.

He took her healing potions because they may be useful elsewhere, as a matter of fact they helped to save Luna that night. Harry was victorious. But he had to die so Voldemort could. He promised Cedric he would look after Hermione for him and then killed himself so Cedric and Neville could finish Voldemort off.

Harry and Hermione would be the only people living in the house that were lost but there was so much death on both sides it seemed like the wizarding world was going to go extinct. The Ministry was looking to Harry's friends to help lead everything back normal and they were all helping, except for Cedric. His grief was too much to bear. He just wanted one more day with his Hermione.

_You walked away  
Just one more day  
It's all I need, just one more day with you_

Hermione missed Cedric but she was furious with him for not moving on. She was having a great time in the other world with Sirius, Harry, his parents, Dumbledore and everyone who had passed on their side in the war. Somehow Dumbledore had arranged some time for her as Sirius called it "to knock some sense into that Diggory chap." She had 20 minutes on night to talk to him in a dream and convince him to move on.

One morning Cedric woke up with a newfound determination. As much as he wanted one more day with Hermione she had come to him in a dream and told him he needed to go on living for the rest of the wizarding world. She would see him someday and then they could be together forever. Until then he had to live, not only for the wizarding world, but for her. And he was set on doing the second part of that. If the first part was part of it so be it.


End file.
